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Fan attire can only carry a team so far

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror The marketing mavens of the Indiana Pacers dressed the team’s fans in Gold Out T-shirts for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, seeking to provide their team with every possible advantage in an elimination game against the Celtics. While the fashion statement made quite an impression on national TV, the T-shirts failed to score a basket or block a shot, and the Pacers were swept out of the NBA playoffs. At Penn State football games, the White Out experience long ago completed the evolution from gimmick to tradition. However, despite ...

City of Dallas buzzing for Mavs, Stars fans

By Schuyler Dixon The Associated Press DALLAS — Dereck Lively II of the Dallas Mavericks tossed the question back at the reporter when the rookie center was asked if he knew why so many fans shouted “Stars” during the national anthem at his home games. “You tell me why,” Lively said, prompting the explanation that supporters of Dallas’ NBA team were offering a shoutout to fans of the NHL’s Stars, who for years have yelled their team’s nickname both times it comes up during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “I definitely had a sneaking suspicion, but I didn’t ...

Litwalk stood for all the right things basketball’

This is a followup to Neil Rudel’s column last weekend on the passing of former Greater Johnstown High School boys basketball Paul Litwalk. I met a slew of coaches over my years, and more than a few allowed the heat of competition to bring out a darker side. I saw Litwalk upset with officials, and I saw him be stern with his players, but I can never recall him being anything but a gentleman on the court and a sincerely kind and pleasant man I always enjoyed talking with off the court. I remember a scuffle between a Bishop Guilfoyle player and Johnstown player one year when the ...

Golfers have been arrested before during tourneys

By Eric Olson The Associated Press Scottie Scheffler’s arrest hours before his second-round tee time at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, will go down as one of the most shocking in professional golf history. It certainly wasn’t the first, though. Tiger Woods and John Daly are probably the highest-profile golfers to wear handcuffs, but Scheffler’s arrest is very different because it happened while he was competing in a tournament — a major championship, no less. Woods was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of driving under the influence when he was found asleep in ...

Conklin’s proposal to separate PIAA championships misses mark

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror Ah, the annual rites of spring in central Pennsylvania. Temperatures are rising, flowers are blooming and consternation is peaking over the number of private, charter and parochial schools that won 2024 PIAA boys and girls basketball championships. A significant difference this year is that State Representative Scott Conklin of Centre County has injected himself into the discussion of the hottest recurring topic in PA scholastic sports. Conklin is the prime sponsor of a bill which proposes that the PIAA be allowed to establish separate playoff ...

Hall missed chance to honor Rusnak

Hall missed chance to honor Rusnak On this sunny spring day, we will pay our last respects to coach Marty Rusnak. There will be former wrestlers, students, friends and family members present to remember the man who left a lifetime impression on all of us. Altoona Mirror writer John Hartsock wrote a fitting tribute to the “Legendary coach” published on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. That article and his beautiful obituary published in the Mirror captured the life and impact Coach Rusnak made in his 81 years as father, husband, teacher, friend and coach. As a former wrestler ...